Digital mental health company Tava has closed a Series B funding round, bringing the total raised in the round to $20 million.
Salt Lake City, Utah-based Taba secured $16 million in January and recently secured another $4 million in a funding round led by Catalyst Investors. Existing investors Peterson Partners, Tova Capital and Springtide were joined by new investor Blue Heron Capital.
Tava provides therapists with an all-in-one mental health platform that includes an electronic health record (EHR) and practice management software for free, and works with employers, industry associations, and payers to support therapists and patients who use the Tava platform. Match.
The company only accepts commercial insurance plans such as Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, and Humana. Approximately 48 million patients have access to his Tava.
Similar to traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), patients receive their first few treatment sessions free of charge. Unlike traditional Her EAPs, patients can choose to continue working with their therapist after the first free session.
Darren Allred, Tava's co-founder and CEO, said this allows patients to continue building a relationship with their therapist.
“For people with diagnosable mental health problems, there is limited clinical evidence that a few hours of treatment changes the behavior in a clinically or statistically significant way,” Allred said. told Health Business. “If you want to stay with that therapist forever, you can do that, and you can use your insurance or credit card to get continued care.”
Founded in 2019, Tava has raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by Peterson Ventures. The company raised an additional $10 million in Series A funding led by Rose Park Advisors in 2021.
The new Series B funding will be used to develop an AI note-taking companion for therapists, build relationships with government payers, and expand Tava's provider network, which currently has approximately 1,000 active clinicians.
Catalyst partner Kapil Desai told BHB in an email that Tava is poised for continued growth.
“Today, most employers still offer traditional EAP programs, which are notoriously low quality and less available, or rely on coverage provided through major health plans. They can have high deductibles, be difficult to navigate, and have low premiums because of provider availability,” Desai said. “We are confident that Taba is well-positioned to capture a significant share of this huge and growing market.”
While the EAP market continues to grow, it is becoming increasingly crowded, Allred said. Rising expectations for mental health benefits are likely to increase the number of industry participants.
A recent poll by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that 90% of American workers say employer-sponsored mental health coverage is important to their workplace culture. Tava is ready to capitalize on this expectation.
“Our vision is [mental health benefits] “It's going to be similar to 401Ks and dental insurance, especially as younger millennials and Gen Z enter the workforce,” Allred said.
Employers are primarily active in providing mental health care benefits. In 2023, 77% of employers had plans to improve access to mental health in 2024. A new study finds that the most comprehensive EAP plans are the most attractive to employers, which may outweigh other factors such as price.
Tava plans to meet this demand by becoming a one-stop shop that streamlines fragmented behavioral health processes.
“As a clinician, it's one place where you can check all the boxes you need to run your practice,” Allred says.
